


you could be my red balloon

by Herricane



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Balloons, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, Kageyama Tobio is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Seriously this is fluff, Zoo, a smol boy, cavity warning, hand-holding, hinata is so tiny, i like that thats a tag awh, my crow sons are a meddlesome bunch, oh i wrote this for valentine's day lol, pure fluff, shoutout to drama club we love the zoo!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 04:23:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14686407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Herricane/pseuds/Herricane
Summary: wherein there are balloons and strings, big cats and bigger feelings, and our boys take a well deserved family trip to the zoo





	you could be my red balloon

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from caitlin obom's Red Balloon (for obvious reasons) which if you haven't heard you should ABSOLUTELY GO LISTEN TO (she's on soundcloud go just trust me please 100/10 and listen to all her shitwhile ur there for real)
> 
> alternate titles included: don't look away, lost and the world is ours (but those both felt WAY too dramatic for this shmoop) and lastly I Wanna Hold Your Hand (because im gross) 
> 
> i wrote this fic for a day 2 of a 14 day valentine's day challenge during which i managed to keep up for total of (you guessed it) 2 days and I've been sitting on it since then but this fic really does just make me totally undignified in a happy way so lmao seriously this is indulgent as turtle cheesecake y'all so ENJOY XOXO 
> 
> also i self-beta'd the shit out of this and then my old laptop internally combusted and i was too lazy to go as hard the second time around so i apologize sincerely for any mistakes okay thank you!!

 

 

“Here,” grouses Kageyama, stalking back from the snack bar with an overpriced bag of popcorn and a drink the size of his head clutched in his fist. Alongside -

“Who’s that for?”

Kageyama looks up at the bright red balloon swaying in residual momentum from the walk over. He looks back down at Hinata. He blinks. “Who do you think, dumbass?”

Hinata’s face lights up, immediately grabbing at the string Kageyama’s woven between his fingers. “You can be as mean as you want but you still bought me a balloon!”

“Whatever.” He holds the balloon out and Hinata accepts it gleefully, “Do you want help?”

“With what?” It’s already annoyingly bright out thanks to the sun, but it feels like nothing compared to the full force of Hinata’s megawatt grin as he pulls the balloon back and forth above him. Kageyama can practically feel himself going blind so he looks away, for the sake of his eyes and volleyball career and _definitely_ not because he’s blushing.

“Tying it around your wrist. I didn’t buy you a balloon just so you’ll cry when you lose it.”

“I won’t lose it!” Hinata scoffs indignant (but tactfully doesn’t mention the crying) and then at Kageyama’s disbelieving stare, “Shut up. I can do it myself.”

After a solid minute of frustrated fumbling it becomes abundantly clear to them both that Hinata cannot, in fact, do it himself. Kageyama holds his hand palm up, more demand than request and eventually Hinata _begrudgingly_ forfeits the string with a glare.

Kageyama makes quick work of the knot. Hinata’s wrists are painfully small for someone with such a devastating attack and if Kageyama's fingers still for a moment over the hummingbird quick beat of Hinata’s pulse, that’s nobody’s business but his own. And if Hinata’s breath is a little sharper, if his pulse picks up just a miniscule amount, well…

“There,” Kageyama says brusquely, retreating back into his own space. He watches Hinata roll his wrist contemplatively, following the movement with his bright amber eyes as it travels up the ribbon and judders the balloon. He adds, “Be careful you don’t float away.” and starts in the opposite direction of the snack bar.

Behind him Hinata makes an outraged noise. “Yeah? Well, be careful you don’t eat my dust!”

That’s all the warning Kageyama gets before Hinata is shoulder checking him and zipping into the crowd of enthusiastic kids and harrowed parents who glare daggers at Kageyama when he takes off after Hinata, eyes focused on the balloon bobbing up and down only a few yards ahead. He can feel the smile tugging at the corners of his lips, despite himself.

 

 

They make it all the way to the monkey exhibit before either of them bothers to catch their breath. Hinata insists it was a tie but Kageyama saw him trip over two seperate baby strollers so he knows that’s not true despite Hinata’s initial lead.They bicker good naturedly and split the popcorn as they roam around the park, listening to Hinata _ooh_ and _aah_ at any glimpse of any animal. It isn’t until they’ve been loitering around the tigers for over ten minutes that Tanaka (and by extension the rest of the team) spots them.

“Oh man, I thought we’d never find you!” Tanaka yells (or speaks, rather, as yelling is just default intensity level for him) clapping them both soundly on the shoulders, “If it weren’t for the balloon…” He laughs, “That was good thinking, Kageyama!”

Beside him, Hinata stills, looking confused and a little suspicious. “What about the balloon?”

“It’s like a signal,” Suga explains (becuase of _course_ Suga had been listening) stealing bites from Daichi’s soft serve, “So that way Kageyama wouldn’t lose you in the crowd. He told us to look for the red balloon when we got to the big cat section.” He’s smiling that blinding, I’ve-never-done-anything-wrong-in-my-entire-life smile even as Daichi looks down to discover he’s missing half his ice cream and Hinata rounds on Kageyama, eyes shining with something Kageyama can’t quite place.

“Is that true?” He demands.

“Uh,” Kageyama debates his options, “Yeah? Why would Suga lie— ”

Hinata cuts him off by punching him in the chest. “Wow, Kageyama— ” He complains loudly, always so loud.

“Okay, but it worked didn't it?” Kageyama snaps, feeling weirdly defensive. “And it’s not my fault you’re so fucking tiny and easy to lose.”

Hinata pauses, seeming to consider this. His glare loses some of its intensity during the silence. He glances up at his balloon and back at Kageyama once, twice. Kageyama is feeling sufficiently (more) awkward (than usual) and kind of wishing Hinata would just pop the damned thing and get it over with when Nishinoya inserts himself between them and steals Hinata away to help him convince Asahi that lifting Noya up so he can see directly into the tiger pit  _is_ a great idea.

A good half an hour passes before Hinata makes it back to Kageyama’s side. Kagaeyama sees him coming, of course, what with the balloon and all, but for the sake of his friend’s pride, pretends he doesn’t.

The rest of the team is busy feeding the giraffes so they don’t notice Hinata slinking up beside him and muttering “Hey, jackass,”

Kageyama snorts, but other than that doesn’t respond, so Hinata keeps talking. “You know you didn’t have to spend money on a balloon.”

“What?” Kageyama asks, he’d thought they had moved past that. Evidently not.

He isn’t expecting it at all when Hinata’s hand slides into his own. It startles him into looking away from the spectacle of Yamaguchi teaching Tsukishima how to avoid too much giraffe tongue, and down at Hinata who’s smiling in a way that makes him look kind of stupid and not at all endearing. “I’m just saying,” Hinata remarks, “You could’ve bought like, four meat buns for the cost of this balloon when it would’ve been just as easy to not lose me like this.” He holds up their joined hands, still grinning.

Carefully, Kageyama raises an eyebrow at the smaller boy. “Right,” He says, “Like you wouldn’t have gone running the minute you saw the ‘exotic birds’ sign. The balloon was much more effective.” But he doesn’t let go of Hinata’s hand.

He listens to Hinata whine about how unfair that is because _birds are cool, unlike you Kageyama_ , but revels in the fact that Hinata doesn’t let go either. Not for the rest of the trip.

Above them, the balloon sways gently in the breeze.

**Author's Note:**

> so fun fact: "popcorn" was originally a churro bc i couldnt think of the japanese equivalent of a churro as a zoo snack lmao sorry im a dumb american but seriously how the shit does one google a question like that i still need an answer
> 
> anyway yay!! i hope u enjoyed!!!  
> i do love the fuck outta these boys so i hope i did them justice!! lmk!!! 
> 
> if u liked it smash that kudos (im sorry) or leave me a saucy comment ;)))) or just hold whatever good feelin u got from it in ur heart <3333 or smthn idk thas pretty gay lmao 
> 
> ok actually thank you SO much i hope you have a beautiful day bye!


End file.
